IMO one of the many privates getting hurt in US News rankings. Exceptional opportunities throughout college and after.
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I can’t argue that acceptance rate “lowness” has gone too far. The compelling case for Northeastern would be the incredible opportunities created for students in the co-op program and the high paying prestigious jobs thereafter.
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Will you further explain using examples of state vs private explaining why state school got such a bump?
NEU is a very good school and is extremely popular among students at our HS. I know lots of kids that have gone there and have thrived. That being said, it is hard to take the 5% admission rate all too seriously because last year more than 80 kids applied from our HS and more than 50 were accepted (20 enrolled)- it was close to a 60% acceptance rate. Of course, we are in MA but that is a pretty big discrepancy.
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There are always posts from people who don’t understand why their kid was accepted to MIT but rejected from NU. NU seems to accept students who they think are likely to enroll. There are a good number accepted from our high school, who enroll, but also exceptionally well qualified students who are rejected.
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That’s an incorrect interpretation. A Note on Methodology: 4-year Colleges and Universities | Washington Monthly
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Well, it’s pretty difficult to respond with any urgency when USNWR is using Pell grant recipient and from 2013-2016 and first generation data from 2011-2013. So any progress made on these social mobility measures now will take 10 years or more to be reflected in the rankings.
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I’m not sure what that has to do with my pointing out that NEU’s purported 5.6% acceptance rate seems a little strange given the 60% of kids accepted from our school (just a typical public school). So far as admissions decisions go, of course they yield protect - they want to admit kids who will come as opposed to kids they think are more likely to go elsewhere. I actually don’t have a problem with that - no kid is entitled to certain college admissions; it’s just not the way it works.
I disagree with your hypothesis that your high school is representative of all high schools in America. I think they are more likely to admit more students from those high schools where a high percentage of students have enrolled in past years, many with the ability to fully pay, and less likely to admit large numbers of students from high schools with a lower percentage of students who have enrolled historically and who are less likely to pay full price or close to it. It is not a need-blind school. It is need-aware for all applicants, US and international.
It is frustrating that they are using data from students who started school around 2011. Some schools have changed their focus, class size, etc., and will not see the benefits or declines in their Salary outcomes with USNEWS and WSJ for years. Also, salary outcome is directly related to the about of high salary majors, not necessarily the quality of the education.
I also like the idea of LSAT, MCAT, and GMAT scores being factored in.
I think most of the comments about NEU are not related to the quality of their education one way or the other. It’s that they are the poster child for taking actions specifically to be favorable to the USN methodology. They literally are the school other schools emulate to do that.
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If you read the 2014 Washington Post article I posted above, the current NU President Joseph Aoun said the emphasis on rising in the rankings was made by the former President, the rankings have not been the emphasis of his administration for a number of years but people treat it as though it were a recent development, which it’s not. Posters always, including in this thread, trot out an old article about it. There is also a responsive article to that very old article.
And as an alum and parent, it’s NU, not NEU, but I will never persuade posters of that, so ignorance is bliss.
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I have no axe to grind with Northeastern. Regardless what the past regime did, the current regime continues to obfuscate admission data by not including those admitted to alternate pathways (NUIn, global scholars, et al) in the official acceptance stats. This is still the case, correct @TomSrOfBoston?
While acceptance rate is no longer part of USNWR’s ranking methodology, it can certainly impact peer rankings of the school. And, IMO of course, showing and celebrating an artificially low acceptance rate is wrong.
Their published average stats (GPA, tests, those in top 10%, etc) also do not include those admitted under the alternate pathways, and some of these stats do in fact directly impact rankings, whether USNWR or others.
Northeastern could also start charging for their application and requiring a supplemental essay…things that would likely decrease their apps. But it seems the new admin doesn’t want that either.
I do think Northeastern has expanded its geographic reach in a brilliant manner and has added many attractive programs, which many recognize.
On these boards people use NEU so it doesn’t get confused with NU (Northwestern). Although a great school, Northeastern is not at the level of NU.
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I don’t think the alternate admission paths, or the way admissions data is handled for them, are unique to NU. Many colleges offer first semester study abroad, summer start program or spring start programs, and I don’t know that their admission data is reported any differently than NU.
In the 20-21 school year Northeastern leveraged its scientific know-how and financial resources to provide a safe on campus experience that other wealthy, elite institutions - including Northwestern and Harvard - did not, so kudos to them. President Aoun said he was called by colleges from around the country asking for guidance. There are always parents who say their students went to Northeastern undergrad and then Northwestern or Harvard for grad school, so their education is valued by elite institutions.
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Many colleges have alternate admission paths, but generally these account for only a small minority of admitted students. Northeastern is unusual because of the large number of students admitted to these programs.
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I don’t think it’s whining so much as questioning the usefulness of rankings that had schools moving up or down more than ten places in a single year, particularly given the general stability in us news rankings in the past. This occurred primarily outside the T25.
That doesn’t make it right if others are also doing it. It serves to obfuscate the actual acceptance rate.
Not charging for applications and not having supplemental essays serve to increase apps, which puts further downward pressure on the acceptance rate. Those tactics are from the Increase Your College’s Rankings Handbook 101.
If President Aoun wanted to do things differently, he could change them. But blaming the former regime for adopting policies instituted to climb the rankings is a bad look since apparently Aoun is sticking with those same tactics.
I agree.
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A publication local to me publishes the number of students applying to all the major colleges, as well as acceptance and enrollment numbers. The acceptance rate to NE, all programs and campuses, was around 25 percent. Still a low number, but no where near five percent. For nearly every other school, local acceptance rates from this source mirrored their published national numbers, within a percentage point or two,
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Interesting, can you share the name of this publication?